Training Plan - January: getting serious

To be competitive in long distance events depends on the cyclist's capacity to collect, transport and use oxygen from the atmosphere to the muscles. We are talking about VO2 max or maximal aerobic capacity. Interval training will significantly improve this value. Interval training is based on repeating short efforts at high power coupled with periods of recovery.During January it is important to do specific training to improve your maximum power. Don't wait until Spring, it will be too late for the summer races and sportives, you will peak in the autumn! However you still need to get a minimum of km under your saddle. If you do interval training without enough km you will quickly fade during the sessions or on the road.To improve VO2Max in January a home trainer is a given. The days are short, cold and wet, your time is perhaps limited. A turbo or rollers lets you train when the conditions outside are bad but it cannot totally replace road work. If you are used to doing 2 to 4 hours on the road you should not simply do the same on a turbo for a couple of reasons. Dehydration due to excessive sweating is a major problem and the consequent loss of essential minerals to the body and the psychological barrier of pedaling without any exterior distractions: cars, training partners, the countryside etc. WattzAp's virtual reality environment can provide a distraction, making turbo rides much more entertaining, you can even learn routes you will ride in the summer.

A home trainer really becomes interesting for quality, targeted sessions. Beyond WattzAp's cycle films, watching a film or TV is a distraction to the session. Cadence exercises are ideally suited to rollers or turbo trainers and they will pay dividends when are on long climbs or responding to attacks. The conditions on a home trainer are constant, no change in gradient or road surface, using one of the WattzAp cadence programs you simply have to follow the defined rhythm. For example, an hour on the turbo can be broken into a 10 minute warm up then a main body of 40 minutes consisting of 4 minute intervals in the following sequence: 90-100-110-120-110-100-90-100-110-120 rpm with a 10 minute warm down. WattzAp will show your target cadence and actual cadence as well as power and heart-rate. During cadence training your heart rate (and power) should remain more or less constant. You use your gears to change your pedaling speed and you will probably be on the small ring.

Strength training is another aspect that can be worked on with a trainer. For example, after the standard 10 minute warm-up you can use your gears to increase power in a pyramid while keeping your cadence more or less constant, with 5 minutes spent on each step. If you have variable resistance on your trainer you can progressively increase the resistance, keeping power constant and reducing the pedaling speed.

Interval training is also easier to do. You don't have to worry about external variables such as junctions, traffic, lights, wind, gradients and corners. The training is focused, higher quality and more intense for a given time. You can easily compare training sessions and progress.The following is a suggested training plan for improving VO2Max during January. You can swap road sessions for turbo and vice-verso depending on the weather. With 4 session in a 7 day week there should be enough time to rest and find good weather for longer road sessions.